介绍:
This is Special English. I&`&m Ryan Price in Beijing. Here is the news.
Almost 700 Chinese officials have been held accountable for their poor environmental protection records in ongoing environmental inspections.
The central government dispatched seven teams in a second round of inspections to seven provincial-level regions including Beijing and Shanghai to review local government work in late November.
These teams have looked into 2,000 cases, and imposed fines totaling 66 million yuan, roughly 10 million U.S. dollars, in 1,500 cases.
A total of 3,000 officials in eight provincial-level areas were held accountable during the first round of inspections in 2016. Their offences included allowing construction in nature reserves and worsening pollution. Punishments included some being removed from their posts.
China is fighting pollution and environmental degradation after decades of economic growth that have left the country saddled with problems including smog and contaminated soil.
The central government has released a national plan on environmental improvements for the period spanning 2016 and 2020, with detailed tasks on air pollution, water and soil.
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North China&`&s latest bout of air pollution has been less serious than expected, thanks to counter measures adopted by local authorities.
China&`&s top environmental watchdog said at least 23 cities in north China, including Beijing and Tianjin, have activated red alerts as the air began to turn hazy starting Friday, prompting local governments to impose car restrictions on roads and cut emissions for factories.
The heavy smog came a bit later than previously forecast as efforts paid off, and pollutant density in the air has somewhat been reduced in the cities.
The Ministry of Environmental Protection said that however, further observation is needed to confirm the actual effects of the measures, and air pollution is still likely to worsen as weather conditions continue to be unfavorable.
The ministry has sent a dozen inspection teams to check whether local governments have taken appropriate measures to address heavy pollution and sanction illegal factory emissions.
China has a four-tier warning system for severe weather, the red being the most serious, followed by orange, yellow and blue.
You&`&re listening to Special English. I&`&m Ryan Price in Beijing.
China&`&s 81 million science and technology workers will have their own festival to celebrate, and it&`&s going to be called the "Sci-Tech Workers&`& Day" which has been designated on May 30 each year.
The State Council, China&`&s Cabinet, has designated the day to be celebrated starting in 2017.
The date was chosen because May 30, 2016 was when the country&`&s top two science and technology conferences convened.
During the events, the authority set the target for China to become a world science and technology powerhouse by the middle of this century.
The "Sci-Tech Workers&`& Day" aims to encourage all workers in the sector to remember their mission and play their roles in innovation.
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The Ministry of Culture is making it compulsory for presenters of online streaming to register with their real names.
The rules require operators of online streaming to identify presenters via interview or video calls. Their licenses will be issued by provincial-level cultural authorities.
The regulation also states that operators should obtain a permit from the ministry before offering channels to presenters from Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan, as well as from other countries.
Operators must carry out real-time supervision of online streaming and keep records of all the content.
A mechanism for handling emergencies should be established. Once an offender is found to have violated laws and regulations, the operator must suspend service, preserve relevant data, and report to the authorities.
A blacklist will be created to strengthen management of online performances and ensure the sector&`&s healthy and orderly development.
The regulation is scheduled to take effect on Jan.1.
You&`&re listening to Special English. I&`&m Ryan Price in Beijing.
The First India-China Think Tank Forum has been held in New Delhi in India.
The forum was jointly organized by the Institute of Chinese Studies, the Indian Council of World Affairs, and the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.
The forum is a bilateral platform established by a Memorandum of Understanding concluded between the Chinese Ministry of External Affairs, the India government, and the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.
Under the theme "Towards a Closer India-China Developmental Partnership", the forum carried out an in-depth discussion on various issues, including major country relations between India and China, as well as strengthening India-China strategic communication, and promoting economic ties.
The forum saw participation from prominent strategic thinkers, economists, academics, and social scientists from both countries.
The next India-China Think Tank Forum will be held in Beijing in 2017.
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North China&`&s Hebei Province has approved a set of measures aimed at tightening protection of the sections of the Great Wall lying within the province.
The regulation stipulates the responsibilities of local governments in protecting the Great Wall within their jurisdiction. It also covers employment and management of protection workers, and social participation in protection.
The regulation prohibits adding new stretches to the wall in the name of protection. It also elaborates acts considered harmful to historical sites and lists punitive measures.
The Great Wall was built between the third century BC and the Ming Dynasty which ended in 1644. The existing sections of 8,800 kilometers were mostly built in the Ming Dynasty. The Great Wall was recognized as a World Heritage Site by the United Nations in 1987.
Hebei Province is home to a combined stretch of over 1,300 kilometers of the Ming-Dynasty wall, passing eight cities.
Officials say the protection work is less than satisfactory as it faces severe natural damage and vandalism in the wake of underfunding and poor management.
You&`&re listening to Special English. I&`&m Ryan Price in Beijing. You can access the program by logging on to newsplusradio.cn. You can also find us on our Apple Podcast. If you have any comments or suggestions, please let us know by e-mailing us at mansuyingyu@cri.com.cn. That&`&s mansuyingyu@cri.com.cn. Now the news continues.
Hepatitis C patients in China will soon be able to access direct-acting antiviral treatments, which can thoroughly cure the liver infection.
A senior liver disease specialist said several medicines are expected to get approval from the top drug authority and enter the Chinese market early in 2017. It will bring China&`&s hepatitis C treatment in line with international mainstream practices.
Currently, most patients with the condition are on injection interferon therapy, which takes longer and may cause serious reactions for some recipients.
By contrast, DAA medicines, are taken orally and can usually get rid of the virus and cure the disease in around 12 weeks.
A patient surnamed Bai is one of those who cannot handle the major side effects from interferon treatment. To survive, he bought DAA drugs from overseas and was cured last year.
DAA medicines have been readily available elsewhere worldwide for many years. But China, the country with the most patients, has no such drugs, largely due to "complex and lengthy drug registration processes". That&`&s according to the World Health Organization&`&s China Representative Bernhard Schwartlander.
In April, the China Food and Drug Administration announced an acceleration of the registration for DAA. Bai said Chinese patients will be able to access world-class treatments at home.
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The U.S. state of Texas has launched what it calls the largest effort ever in the state to track brain injuries among young athletes.
The University Interscholastic League, Texas&`& governing body for public high school sports, is partnering with the O&`& Donnell Brain Institute at UT Southwestern Medical Center for the project, from which they hope to gauge whether rules or equipment changes are improving player safety and what more can be done to protect athletes.
Officials say that a state as large as Texas, which has more than 800,000 public high school athletes, would be a key step in developing a national database of brain injuries in youths. Already, the federal Center of Disease Control and Prevention is seeking federal funding for such a database.
All 50 states in recent years have passed rules or laws to address concussions in young athletics from research to protocols for identifying concussions and setting rules for return to play. The CDC has estimated that up to 3.8 million concussions occur in sports and recreational activities each year, but some experts wonder if those numbers underestimate total brain injuries, as some individuals may not seek treatment for mild or moderate symptoms.
The Texas program will track about two-dozen sports, from football to girls&`& soccer, recording what caused an injury, recovery time and other data.
You&`&re listening to Special English. I&`&m Ryan Price in Beijing.
A DNA test has confirmed that the remains of a male found recently in a desert in the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region belonged to a native of Sichuan province, who went missing more than 50 years ago.
The test results were published by police in neighboring Qinghai province.
The remains were found by a group of rock collectors near the Lop Nor basin at the junction of Xinjiang and Qinghai in November.
Police officers found the remains and personal belongings of the deceased at the site including a newspaper. Police said high temperatures and a lack of rainfall was the reason why the belongings were intact.
Among the items that were found are a newspaper that was published in 1960 and letters that suggest the remains were that of a man surnamed Li, who was reported missing in the 1960s.
Police contacted Li&`&s wife, who is now 88-year-old. She remarried after Li was confirmed missing.
The couple married in 1949, a year before he was enrolled in the army to fight the Korean War. He was wounded in the war and returned home in 1951. He left home five years later, saying he would find work outside the province, and lost contact with his family.
Police said it is not known why he perished in the desert, adding that he might have also passed away in April 1961.
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Unable to find out who threw a yogurt bottle out of a window, the parents of a 2-year-old girl who was hurt by it sued 450 suspected homeowners.
The local court in Chongqing ruled that all of them must split the compensation and each pay 360 yuan, roughly 51 U.S. dollars.
All the homeowners who attended the court hearing accepted the ruling.
On the evening of Sept 16, 2014, the girl was playing in the neighborhood where a yogurt bottle was thrown out of a window of a nearby building and it hit the girl&`&s head.
The girl was knocked unconscious and was taken to the hospital. Her family spent more than 80,000 yuan on medical treatment for the girl&`&s skull fractures and related injuries.
As the parents could not find who was responsible, they had to sue all homes from the second to the 33rd floors and asked for a total of 300,000 yuan in compensation.
In recent years, news about objects falling from tall buildings and hitting passer-byers has drawn public attention. But most victims with minor injuries just let it go since it is so difficult to identify the person who threw the object.
However, under Chinese civil law, victims in these kind of case can be compensated by all users of a building if nobody is found responsible.
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